Period 9 – Week 3 Training Report

HIGHLIGHTS: This was a buildup week. The season has now reached the point where endurance, aerobic fitness, and strength are well developed and just need to be maintained. Intensity has been gradually increased to develop Functional Threshold Power (FTP) – race pace for one hour. The weekend rides are at moderate intensity for endurance and aerobic fitness maintenance, while the midweek trainer sessions incorporate very high intensity efforts to increase racing threshold. Weekday workouts were conducted indoors on a power trainer. Weekend workouts were conducted outdoors on a local bike trail.

Tuesday’s workout was a continuous ramped intervals for five minutes with a five watts increase starting at 210 watts to over 235 watts, repeated four times with two minutes recovery between intervals. Average speed was 19.5 mph; maximum speed was 24.8 mph. Average power was 145 watts; maximum power was 477 watts.

Wednesday’s workout was a strength training session consisting of a 10-minute warmup on the power trainer, an assortment of 13 exercises, such as high-bench step-ups, one-leg squats, press-ups, and planks, followed by a 10-minute cooldown on the power trainer. Average speed was 18.9 mph; maximum speed was 19.8 mph. Average power was 123 watts; maximum power was 180 watts.

Thursday’s workout was a VO2 development and lactate tolerance session consisting of three parts: 15 second all-out sprints repeated seven times with two minutes recovery between sprints; one minute all-out intervals at over 105 RPM cadence, repeated seven times with two minutes recovery between sprints; and a five minute high intensity interval at over 95 RPM cadence, repeated twice with two minutes recovery between intervals. Average speed was 18.9 mph; maximum speed was 27.0 mph. Average power was 129 watts; maximum power was 546 watts.

Friday’s workout was a leg speed spin out session consisting of a 30-second buildup to maximum cadence held for an additional minute, repeated four times, with four minutes recovery between intervals. Average speed was 17.1 mph; maximum speed was 24.3 mph. Average power was 100 watts; maximum power was 460 watts.

Saturday’s workout was a 28.37 mile effort at 70%-90% MHR completed in 1:46:50. Average speed was 16.0 mph; maximum speed was 26.5 mph.

Sunday’s workout was a 42.16 mile effort at 60%-90% MHR completed in 2:45:54. Average speed was 15.3 mph; maximum speed was 25.8 mph.